


The Life of an Android

by MoonlightBreeze



Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Gavin Reed Being Less of an Asshole, Gavin Reed is Bad at Feelings, Gun Violence, Hostage Situations, Hurt Upgraded Connor | RK900, M/M, Major Character Injury, Whumptober 2020, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26806057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightBreeze/pseuds/MoonlightBreeze
Summary: Getting into a hostage situation with Nines leads Gavin to realise that his feelings for his partner may not be entirely platonic. Or, Gavin Reed gets over his hatred of androids for one android in particular, and Nines gets shot in the line of duty. (Don't worry, he's fine!)Whumptober 2020 prompt fic - Held at gunpointHappy ending!Warnings for gun violence and major character injury! Please keep yourselves safe. <3
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Upgraded Connor | RK900 & Gavin Reed, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950094
Comments: 4
Kudos: 93





	The Life of an Android

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! So, as some of you may know, I'm doing Whumptober! My first two fics were Shadowhunters, but I'm going to be writing some Reed900 this month, as well, the first of which is this. Written for the Whumptober prompt: held at gunpoint. 
> 
> Warnings for gun violence and major character injury within! Please keep yourselves safe, lovelies! <3
> 
> I really hope you like this!! Kudos make my day and comments validate my existence, so please feel free to leave those, if you want :) And as always, I hope you have a wonderful day/night!
> 
> ~ Em

Gavin swore as the perp manhandled him into the warehouse, shoving him towards a stack of old boxes. The cold, metal barrel of a gun at his neck kept him compliant as they made their way inside. Beside him, he could see Nines in a similar predicament. The man’s accomplice didn’t have a weapon, but he was holding tight to Nines’ arm and whispering something in the android’s ear. Gavin frowned. He couldn’t imagine what would make Nines afraid enough to not take action against them, but apparently the man could.

The two criminals shoved Gavin and Nines forward, towards two chairs in the center of the room. Gavin half-sat, half-fell into one and Nines was forced into the other one by the man from before. Gavin wondered if the android would be able to think up some scheme or escape route that he hadn’t thought of. What good was being the most advanced prototype Cyberlife had ever created if the android in question couldn’t even figure a way out of this?

It was supposed to be a milk run, apprehending a few low-level red ice dealers. It was something that Gavin could have taken care of on his own, and with Nines by his side, there was no chance of failure; no chance of something like this. He and Nines shared a frantic look, and Gavin swore again at the emotions swirling in his partner’s stormy grey eyes. 

The android looked _afraid_. Of what, Gavin didn’t know. 

The men were talking to each other in low voices, and Gavin thought he saw the flash of a knife in the first man’s hand. He gritted his teeth and tried to shove down the panic that was steadily making its way up his throat, threatening to choke him. One of the men still had his gun trained on Gavin and Nines, and Gavin clenched his hands into fists at his sides. He hated feeling helpless, powerless to do anything. 

Beside him, Nines’ LED was flickering between yellow and red, and Gavin knew the android was probably running preconstructions and analyzing possible outcomes to their predicament with every second that ticked by. It made him feel minutely better about their chances of surviving this. 

One of the red ice dealers shot a sidelong glance in Gavin’s direction, and his eyes widened. A barbed wire tattoo snaked around the man’s neck, and there was a scar right above his left eyebrow. These were all identifying characteristics of Jack ‘Big Tuna’ Knoset, Detroit’s red ice epidemic’s current leader and head dealer.

_Oh, fuck._

They were in deeper shit than Gavin had thought. 

Knoset and his goon made their way back to Gavin and Nines, studying them critically. Gavin could practically hear the wheels turning in Knoset’s brain. Killing cops was risky, but he knew that Gavin, and especially Nines, being an android, would be able to give the police an accurate sketch and description to go off of. Hell, Nines might even be able to use his technology to design a mugshot of Knoset from their interaction. 

Gavin’s hands trembled at his sides. He was going to kill them. 

Knoset’s goon exchanged a wary look with his boss, but Knoset ignored him. “What’s your rank?” he asked Gavin and Nines gruffly. Gavin opened his mouth to respond with a witty retort, but Nines answered before he could. 

“Detective,” he said calmly. “We’re detectives.”

“Well, tell me this, _detective_ ,” Knoset sneered, “What are you doing here?” He pressed the barrel of the gun to Nines’ forehead, and Gavin’s heart seized. 

“We were sent to apprehend a few low-level dealers,” Gavin answered for him, trying to keep his voice steady and calm, for fear of betraying his anxiety. His eyes were glued to the gun trained on Nines, but he wasn’t going to let Knoset know how much he cared. That would only give the crime boss an unneeded advantage. 

“And you found me instead,” Knoset purred. “How unfortunate.”

Gavin bit his lip, the urge to reply with something sarcastic damn near overwhelming. But Nines seemed to think that they should appease Knoset, if his answering of Knoset’s question earlier was anything to go by, so Gavin kept his mouth shut and decided to trust his partner. He didn’t know what Nines was playing at, but whatever it was, it was better than nothing, which was what Gavin currently had. 

Nines quirked an eyebrow upwards in a surprisingly human manner, making Gavin’s heart skip a beat. “You are exactly who we were expecting to find.” His voice was deceptively innocent, but Gavin could hear the undercurrent of malice that laced Nines’ tone. The tiny hint of mockery was, he knew, only for him to hear. “A low-level dealer.” Nines made a soft, considering sound. “Although, we were not expecting you to be armed in this manner.” Despite the situation, Gavin had to bite his lip in order to stave off a smile.

_That cheeky fucker._

The situation abruptly became clear to Gavin; Nines was trying to convince Knoset that they didn’t know who he was in order to get him to let his guard down. _Smart._ Apparently the android had some hostage situation know-how in his huge computer of a brain. 

Knoset regarded them with caution, and Gavin didn’t blame him. Being police detectives, it was just shy of plausible that they wouldn’t know who he was. Gavin gave Knoset a onceover, trying to discern what age he might be. He looked younger than Gavin, but older than his mid-20s foot soldier. Gavin could work with that.

“Is this your first run-in with the law?” Gavin asked Knoset, playing the part of a caring detective trying to counsel a young man into giving up. He ignored Nines’ eyes on him and continued, “I can put in a good word with the red ice taskforce and the DA if you cooperate.”

Gavin saw a flash of doubt in Knoset’s eyes. Perfect. 

Nines, quickly catching on to Gavin’s plan, spoke up, as well: “We’re here as a favour to the Captain; red ice isn’t even our jurisdiction. We’re much nicer than the guys that work with illegal substances on the daily. Trust me, you want to be caught by us, not them.”

Knoset’s hand tightened around his gun, but Gavin knew that it meant he was starting to believe them. His heart leapt and he tried not to show anything too revealing in his expression. If Knoset believed they were low-level detectives that didn’t usually deal with red ice, he would let his guard down and give them the opportunity they needed. 

Beside him, Nines’ LED spun red in the darkened warehouse. It made a protective urge swell in Gavin’s chest. He would die before he let anything happen to Nines. 

Knoset pulled his foot soldier aside and took his eyes off of Gavin and Nines for a split second. Nines saw his opportunity and charged. 

Gavin jumped out of the chair and tackled Knoset’s goon to the ground, listening closely to the sound of Nines and Knoset brawling beside him. He sent the foot soldier a swift uppercut that knocked him out cold and raced to Nines’ side just in time to see Knoset pull out the gun and fire a bullet into Nines’ side. 

A loud sound ripped itself out of Gavin’s throat - not a scream or a shout, but something more primal and terrified - and he watched as Nines slowly dropped to his knees, holding his right side. Blue blood poured from the wound, and Gavin felt his heart begin to bang painfully against his ribcage. 

The scene seemed to unfold in slow motion as Knoset turned to send another bullet through Nines’ thirium pump. Gavin leapt into action before he even had time to process what was happening, wrestling the weapon away from Knoset as Nines slowly got to his feet, still clutching his side. 

Knoset hid the floor with a loud _thump_ and Gavin kicked the gun away from him, slapping handcuffs onto his wrists. He wanted to do so much more, wanted to beat him within an inch of his life for hurting Nines, but there was no time. Nines was injured, Nines might even be _dying_ , and Gavin couldn’t let that happen. No, no, not after everything they’d been through. The world had seen his sad little life and taken pity on him, giving him Nines, and fuck if he was going to let it have him back. 

Gavin fastened Knoset’s handcuffs to the chair he’d been forced into before, effectively restraining him, and rushed to Nines’ side. 

The android coughed once, and a little trickle of blue blood ran down his chin. Gavin swallowed hard and fished for his radio to call for backup. 

“Central, this is Detective Reed at 175 Cherry Street, Warehouse District. We have an officer down, all available units please respond. We need an ambulance, hurry!”

“10-4, Detective. An ambulance is en route.”

“Nines, Nines, hey,” Gavin muttered, wrapping an arm around his partner’s shoulders. “You’re gonna be alright, okay? You’re gonna be jus’ fine.”

“G-Gavin…”

“No, shut up,” Gavin grumbled, shrugging his jacket off and pressing it to Nines’ wound. He needed to stop the bleeding. “Save your strength.”

“Gavin, I - ”

“Will you jus’ shut the fuck up, tin can?” Gavin growled. “Fuck, even while you’re bleedin’ out, you’re still annoyin’ me.”

He couldn’t be sure in the darkened warehouse, but Gavin thought he saw Nines roll his eyes at that. 

The wail of sirens could be heard outside, and Gavin let out a sigh of relief. It was going to be okay. Cyberlife would fix Nines up and his partner would be back to his usual Terminator self before he knew it. 

Nines clutched Gavin’s arm with shaky fingertips, and Gavin had to swallow around the lump in his throat at the sight of Nines’ fear-filled eyes. “Will you, w-will you stay with me?”

Gavin’s own eyes misted over with tears. “Yeah, Nines, ‘course I will. Not gonna let those nerds get their hands on you without some adult supervision.”

That time, Gavin was sure Nines rolled his eyes. 

~ ~ ~

Later, in the Cyberlife plant, Gavin sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair next to Nines’ bed, wringing his hands together nervously. Nines was awake, his side bandaged, and sipping from a vial of blue blood. Luckily, he didn’t need any biocomponents replaced, and he had assured Gavin that he would be ready to leave in a matter of hours. 

That didn’t make Gavin feel any better. 

Though, logically, he had known even in the warehouse that his partner would be fine, Gavin couldn’t help the fear that had consumed him when he saw Nines get shot. In all of his days on the job, he’d never felt like that before. It was unnerving and confusing and the voice in the back of Gavin’s mind kept whispering that this was an _android_ , not a human, and Gavin shouldn’t be thinking like this, shouldn’t be feeling like this, shouldn’t be treating Nines like a human when he - it - wasn’t. 

But then, wasn’t he? Nines was a deviant. Deviants were said by many to be just as human as Gavin himself. And Nines, well, Nines was different. Nines wasn’t his toaster coming to life all of a sudden. Nines wasn’t stupid Connor with his stupid coin or the deviant in the holding cell at the precinct who’d tried to kill its owner. 

Nines was, well, _Nines_ , and Gavin was having a hard time thinking of him in a negative light as of late. 

In many ways, Gavin thought, Nines was more human than he was sometimes. 

“Gavin?” Nines’ soft, dulcet tones pulled Gavin abruptly from his thoughts. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah - I mean, no - I mean - ” Gavin sighed. “I dunno, Nines. Jus’ have a lot of my mind.”

“Anything you want to share? Research shows that talking about what is bothering them is good for humans.”

Gavin rolled his eyes, but he twisted his fingers together anxiously and began to speak anyway. “When I saw you, b-bleeding like that...fuck, Nines, I was so fuckin’ scared. I thought you were gonna die.”

“That thought had crossed my mind, as well, Detective,” Nines replied without meeting Gavin’s eyes. He was trying to inject some humor into the situation, but it fell short of making either of them laugh.

“Were you afraid?”

“What?” Nines appeared to be thrown by Gavin’s sudden question. 

“Were you afraid to die?” Gavin knew his tone was fierce, perhaps more so than it should be, but he didn’t care. He had to know. 

Nines regarded him with something like suspicion, narrowing his eyes at the other man. “Yes, Gavin, I was afraid to die,” Nines answered slowly. 

“Kiss me.”

And, without waiting for an answer, Gavin lunged forward and captured Nines’ lips with his own. 

**Author's Note:**

> [Stalk me on Tumblr](http://moonlight-breeze-44.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Prompts are open! (I originally opened my ask box on Tumblr for Shadowhunters prompts, but I am now accepting DBH and DE prompts, as well! Any ship is welcome. Please note that I will be VERY slow with my prompts; this month and the next two are extremely busy for me. Thank you in advance for your patience!)


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